Steven Lin
Management at University of Bristol, England

Studying in England had always been my dream ever since I visited during my junior high school. In 2015, I traveled to Denmark and United Kingdom for an educational trip and I had hoped that one day I could get a chance to study in this classical country. After completing my bachelor’s degree in IBSC at Yuan Ze University, as luck did not favor me to continue my master’s program in Taiwanese universities, I started my application to study abroad. The Professors at the YZU-IBSC department first suggested I get an IELTS score in order to know my English language capabilities which would give me a clear picture of the programs and schools I could apply for my further studies. Then I had to prepare my statement of purpose (SOP) and resumé as it was one of the requirements for the application process. I had some part-time working experience in convenience stores which proved to be beneficial for me to apply for a management program. While applying to these universities abroad, they take these experiences and your ability into consideration apart from regular studies. You will also require some recommendation letters from your professors, so I suggest you keep on good terms with your professors at the university. After successful application, I received conditional offers from six British universities, and then considering the living cost and my financial status, I accepted to enroll myself into the University of Bristol.  

It has been three months since I arrived in Bristol, and New Year's Eve is just around the corner. Since there are many Chinese language speakers in and around, one can easily survive even if are not good at the English language, but you can still improve your English language skills as the majority of the people speak in English. Like most of the people who travel abroad, I too can't get accustomed to the local food as it is not my regular palate. I miss those delicious Taiwanese cuisines here in the UK. The food prices at restaurants can be expensive at times, so I avoid eating out and cook food mostly by myself.

Even though it is a short period that I am here in the UK, I am getting along and learning to meet people. I have made some new friends in Bristol who are from Japan, China, Thailand, and Britain. The Japanese lesson that I had undertaken in YZU has been of some help and sometimes use it to communicate with my Japanese friend while chatting with her.  She had commended me that my pronunciation is good and can improve even more. The teaching method is entirely different from Taiwan, as students are given opportunities to become independent learners. Most of the time, professors and tutors do not set specific goals for the students, instead, they provide us with guidance and assessments and leave it to us to think about the content and come up with a solution.

Before I end up my short essay, I would like to tell each and every one of you the importance of academic writing in the English language. I did not focus much on these skills during my undergraduate course. These skills are essential as it is required for every assignment. I strongly suggest everyone reading my essay improve and brush up on their academic writing skills before entering into postgraduate programs.

​